What does it mean, this marking of the end of one year and the beginning of another? Is it just an arbitrary date on the calendar, chosen for convenience or as a holdover from centuries past? It’s cold and dark when I get up; it’s cold and dark long before I go to sleep. There isn’t a lot about the beginning of January that lends itself to thoughts of new beginnings and new life.
Yet. Yet. Yet. The sun is moving from its shortest appearance to its longest. Incremental gains in light every day. I may not notice the change until February, but it is there. These little changes will accumulate like the Fall leaves in my back yard.
Perhaps the new year begins in a dark time because it tells me a truth: what gives light and life grows more often than it crashes full grown out of the blue.
Blessings and Peace to you this New Year, this New Day.
Lacking patience and having been a member of the “instant gratification” movement, I so prefer the crashing full grown out of the blue vs. incremental growth type of experience. Thanks for setting my face toward a slower, more meaningful and deeper ontology–and Happy New Year, Johnna!
Happy New Year to you, Bill! I think it happens both ways – sometimes crashing out of nowhere, sometimes growing slowly. Either way, it’s a grace…peace, Johnna